The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

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Okay – so we expected that if Steve Jobs showed up for the Apple IPad2 launch, he would appear thinner, frailer, slower. And we were right.

We also expected that Jobs, being Jobs, would somehow hold his own. And we were right again. Jobs’ passion for the company and the product – and his connection with the audience – came through as it always does.

But, as a body language and leadership expert, I watched the video of his announcement with special interest. And one simple gesture caught my attention. Seventeen times in the nine-minute clip I viewed, Jobs held both hands behind his back.

There are two reasons why I was surprised to see Jobs do this:

1) The gesture triggers a primitive and innate response in an audience.

Body language was the basis for our earliest form of communication when the split-second ability to recognize if a person or situation was benign or dangerous was often a matter of life or death. And in our prehistory, it was vitally important to see an approaching person’s hands in order to evaluate his intent. If hands were concealed they could very well be holding a rock, a club, or other means of doing us harm.

In a business setting today, with no logical reason to do so, we still instinctively mistrust someone who keeps his hands out of sight -- in his pockets, below the table, or behind his back.

2) It’s a deviation from his baseline.

Reading body language is all about comparing someone’s current nonverbal action to his “baseline,” or normal behavior. If Jobs typically delivered speeches holding his hands behind his back - it would be an expected move, with no particular meaning attached to it.

But Steve Jobs is a master nonverbal communicator – usually employing gestures that are expansive, illustrative and flowing. So this is an uncharacteristic gesture that most likely signals a new tentativeness, a sense of unease.